Device for winding film strips onto a processing spool



May 12, 1964 KAARE HANSEN ETAL 3,132,818

DEVICE FOR WINDING FILM STRIPS ONTO A PROCESSING SPOOL 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. l5, 1962 May 12, 1964 KAARE HANSEN ETAL 3,132,818

DEVICE FOR WINDING FILM STRIPS oNTo A PROCESSING sPooL Filed Jan. 15, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG 3 www Kaara Hansen and 'Er/ing J. Kivu/sen INVENTORS ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,132,818 DEVICE FOR WINDING FILM STRIPS ONT() A PRCESSING SPUL Kaare Hansena Statens Sitiermbildcfotogratering, Oslo, ltlorway, and Erling J. Knutsen, Storlolrlra, Honefoss, Norway p Filed `lan. l5, 1962, Ser. No. 166,201 Claims priority, application Netherlands Jan. 16, 1961 7 Claims. (Cl. 242-55) The present invention relates to apparatus for winding photographic film strips to be processed in a spiral having spaced convolutions. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved form of a device of this type which was described in our prior patent, Ser. No. 2,990,128.

According to that patent a film holding reel or spool is used which has two coaxial flanges joinedtogether by a central pin. Each of the flanges mainly consists of a number of radially extending spokes each of which is provided with a row of teeth. The position of the teeth on the spokes is such that they define a spiral track for the edge of the film strip which does not hold the strip along its whole length but is interrupted by the interspaces between the spokes. These interspaces provide for a nearly unobstructed passage of processing liquids and drying air towards the space between the film convolutions. For feeding the film strip into the spool the latter is rotatably supported and there is provided a movable film guide into which the leading end of the film can be'inserted and which can be introduced between the spool flanges. In order to ensure a correct positioning of the film guide member during winding its movement is governed by a guide plate which is rotated together with the spool and has a spiral groove corresponding to the spiral tracks of the spool. A finger which is attached to the film guide follows the spiral groove of the guide plate and moves the film guide progressively outward as the winding proceeds.

Processing spools with either interrupted spiral tracks as described above or conventional continuous spiral tracks may also be used for the simultaneous treatment of several short film strips each occupying a limited number only of the spiral windings available. A winding device as described in our above-mentioned prior patent could be used for winding on such film strips successively. This procedure has certain disadvantages, however. To enable a next film strip to be inserted into the film guide the winding must be stopped for a while after the previous film strip has been finished. In the dark room, however, it will be very difficult to make sure exactly when the winding of a film strip has been completed. In practice, to be safe, the spool will have to make much more revolutions for each film strip than would be strictly required in view of the length of the strip, especially if the device is motordriven. Therefore, the spool will hold konly a few films. Moreover the winding of a number of short film strips with the aid of the winding device previously described will be a delicate and uncomfortable procedure requiring much attention.

it is the principal object of the invention to remedy these deficiencies and to provide a winding device of the type indicated which is especially suited for the purpose of winding a number of short film strips on a processing spool.

In accordance with the present invention the spiral groove in the guide plate is subdivided into a number of sections separated from each otherby uninterrupted circumferentially closed outlet grooves and means are provided to urge the finger of the hlm guide member when it is in the outlet grooves againstfthe groove wall which is nearest to the axis of the guide plate whereby the outlet grooves vmay be repetitiously` traversed by the finger.

3,l32,8l8 Patented May l2, 1964 n 2 spiral groove and a lm strip has been coiled on, the

finger enters the outlet groove which separates the sectionv may last for several revolutions of the spool which may Thus, after the finger has run through a section of the p y.

ris provided with a roller '7 e.g. made of rubber.

then be stopped in order to insert the next film strip.

LBy moving the film guide outward against the spring action until the finger in 'the outlet groove contacts the ridge of the first winding of the next section and thereupon turning the guide plate in the correct sense, the finger will automatically enter the next section of the groove.

In accordance with the invention the entrance of the finger into the next groove section is still facilitated if, at least, the first winding of such section is recessed into the bottom of the outlet groove which precedes the section. In this case the only action required is to move the film guide slightly outward tillr the finger snaps into the recessed winding and restart the rotation of the guide plate.

in a preferred embodiment of the invention the flanges of the processing spool have spiral grooves which are subdivided into a number of sections which are separated from each other by concentric rings attached to the yflanges and projecting above the plane of the groove bottoms a distance substantially equal to the height of the ridges between adjacent windings of the spiral grooves. The purpose of the rings is to prevent the first part of a film strip being wound onto the spool from entering the section destined for the film strip previously coiled on and from so touching the latter strip. Such difficulties could arise from the fact that yroll films which have been stiflly wound on a spool of small diameter exhibit a strong inclination to curl.

The invention will be described in greater detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic top plan View of winding device;

FIG. 2 shows a cross-section along the line II-II of FIG. l; y y

FIG. 3 is a perspective sketch of the film guide;

FIG. 4 shows a detail of the guide plate in top plan View;

FIG. 5 shows a cross-section along the line V-V of FlG. 4;

FIG. 6 shows a part of the processing spool in perspective.

The winding device illustrated has a base plate 1 disthe improved `posed on legs 2. A shaft 3 is fixedly mounted on the plate. Immediately over the base plate a guide plate 4 is rotatably mounted on shaft 3 by means of a bearing 5. The guide plate has on its upper side a spiral groove 18. An electric motor 6 is .supported by plate l whose shaft Roller 7 bears against the edge of circular guide plate 4 and drives the latter by friction. A processing reel or spool 3 is detachably mounted on shaft 3 and consists of two generally circular flanges 9 and lil and a hollow central pin 11 forming the hub of the spool. The flanges and the central pin are joined together by a pair of nuts 12 and 13.

Each of the flanges has a central part ld and a number of spokes 15 regularly spaced apart and extending radially from the hub. The spokes are held by a circular reinforcement rib 16 near the circumferential edge of the flange. Each of the spokes 15 is provided with toothing 17 on the side facing the other flange. LThe teeth are divided along spokes 15 into groups t7', 17 etc. which are separated from each other by interspaces i9. Corresponding groups of teeth on all spokes of a flange toalessia lil gether define an interrupted spiral groove adapted to retain an edge ot a photographic iilm strip in the desired spiral with spaced convolutions. This spiral has the same pitch as the spiral groove in the guide plate Il. Spool 8 and plate 4 can not be turned relative to each other since a pin 21 prevents this.

ln FlG. l only a quarter part of spool t; is shown, viz. the sector A-B. Furthermore a sector C-D of the guide plate l is shown in top plan view in FlG. l. The remaining parts have been omitted in order to show more clearly the lm guide member through which hlm strips 25h are introduced into the spool.

This member, as may best be seen in FIGS. l and 3, has two elongated sneet metal strips 22 23 which have been bent laterally to an L-shaped cross-section. The strips are fastened to small blocks 2- and 2.5, resp., which lit in the groove of a U-shaped member 26 carried by an arm 27' which is rotatably supported by a shaft 23 mounted on base plate 1. Strips 22 and Z3 together denne a guiding channel for the lilm strip 3d the height of which is adjustable by block 2li in groove member 26 and fixing it at the desired height by means of screw 29 (see FIG. l). The distance between the strips 22 and 23 should be such that the film guide can be swung in between the flanges 9 and lll of spool 5. Due to this a lilm strip 30 when positioned in the guiding channel will be bent transversely as illustrated in FIG. 2. ln order to retain the lilm strip between the strips 22 and 23 conical rollers 3l and 32 are provided. Moreover, at the outlet of the guiding channel a cylindrical roller 33 is mounted between the strips 22 and 23 which engages the convex side of the hlm. A lilm strip to be coiled on is disposed as a roll 3d on a spindle carried by an arm 36.

When spool S is rotated the lm guide is positively controlled by the guide plate 1i. To accomplish this the film guide member is provided with an arm 37, made of sheet metal, which tapers towards its `free end `and is xed to the swaying ann 27. A small linger 33 adapted to run in groove 1d of the guide plate is mounted on the free end or" arm y37. During the winding arm 37 extends in the space between the lower iange lid of the spool and the guide plate 4. Finger 38 is substantially vertically under the place where ilm strip 3d leaves the guiding channel and is, during assembly, adjusted so that the edges of iilm strip 3i? when leaving the guiding channel are tangential to the right winding of the grooves in `the spool ilanges.

Arm llwhich is made of resilient material can be bent slightly by means of ia rigid Lashaped lever 39 rotatably supported at du by lthe block Z6. Finger 3d may be disengaged from the spiral groove 1d by pushing the vertical `arm @El of lever 39 a little backwards. With the linger in raised position the iilm guide may be swung into and out of the spool independently ofthe guide plate 4.

In the device known heretofore the guide plate d has one long spiral groove occupying the whole useful surface of the plate d. Contrary to this, `the guiding groove 1.3 of the present invention is subdivided into a number of sections 13', 18" etc., each substantially correspondling in ylength to the hn strips to be treated. These sections are separated from each other by lumnterrupted cir- `curn'ferentially closed circular outlet grooves Ztljwhich, in the example shown, are substantially wider than the ywindings of the spiral groove. As shown in FIGS. 4 and the bottom of ythe outlet groove Ztl is below the upper surface d2 of 4the ridges separating adjacent kwindings of the groove 15. As illustrated, the bottoms of outlet groove 2t? and guiding groove 1S suitably are on the same l with continued rotation of plate 4 in the direction of arrow 45, linger 38 will be dragging against the ridge between the last winding of spiral 13" and the outlet groove Ztl. In this situation the position of the hlm guide does not change any more.

When the film guide member is turned a little anticlociiwise against the action of spring 43, however, finger 38 will automatically snap into a spiral groove 46 which is provided over at least one winding las ia recess in the bottom of the outlet groove Ztl. Groove 46 may be considered as a irst or inlet winding ofthe next section 18 of the spiral groove which does not get its normal shape until ,the point 47. At that point the groove 46 becomes gradually more shallow so that linger 3S can enter groove lil without any jamming or damaging.

FG. 6 shows la detail of a flange of the processing spool. Recessed parts 19 interrupt the toothing 17 of the spokes in such a manner that the interrupted spiral track [formed by the teeth is subdivided into sections 1'7, 17 etc. similar 4to the sections of the spiral groove 18 in the guide plate 4. The sections are separated by circular recessed Zones. Generally, the number of teeth in each section will vary along the spokes since a certain length of film will require less windings the nearer the section is situated to .the circumference. The several sections are not only separated by the recesses 19 but also by thin erect rings 453 the height of which is about equal to that of the toothin-g `17. Thus, the rings 4S do not obstruct the movement of the film guide between the spool flanges but eifectively prevent the film from snapping into a previous section ot the spiral tracks which could endanger the proper winding and development of theV iilm strip concerned.

The use of the device is as follows. When a number of film strips have to be wound upon the processing spool the first film roll 34 is put on pin 3S ofthe iilm guide member. The free end of the iilm is introduced into the guiding -chmnel deined by the strips 22, and 23. As the width of this channel is smaller than lthe film width the rllm strip will be curved transversely. After that the guiding channel is moved inwards between the spool ilianges so far as to allow linger 38 to be lowered into the circular groove 49 (see FIG. 2). By turning the guide member a little anti-clockwise finger 3S will snap into an inlet groove (not shown) of the lirst section of the spiral groove 18 which is recessed in the bottom or groove 49 similarly to the groove 46 in FIG. 5. Then the lilm is transported a certain length by hand. The lilrn strip 30 will stnaighten again upon leaving the `guiding channel due to its inherent resilience and will snap between the teeth of the spokes 15 of spool 8. When the leading end of the strip has been introduced by hand so far that it occupies e.g. a semi-circle on the spool the friction between the spool and the edges of the film strip will generally be sufficient to permit starting of the motor 6 which will drive the spool sin the direction of arrow 51. ln order to obtain a Idrm anchorage of the lilrn to the spool the end of the strip may be folded so as to form a flap Sil (see FiG. l) engaging a tooth on each of the flanges 9 and lll.V Under the control of the guide plate l the guide member now imoves outwards so that ,the film strip Si) upon leaving the `guiding channel enteus the right tooth interspaces.

When the rst lilm strip has been coiled on and ringer 33 has left the iirst section of spiral groove 18 rotation of the device can be continued for some time without any objection; After the motor has been stopped a second film strip is introduced into the film guide and Vthe latter is moved again a small angle anti-clockwise to permit linger 38 to snap intothe recessed inlet groove of the second groove section. The lilm strip is transponted by hand until it sticks and the motor is restarted; This procedure is repeated until, eventually, `all sections of the spool are occupied. Finally, the lm `guide member is swung out teclear the spool 8 and the latter may be taken sneasle,

from the shaft 3 in order .to be processed in the lconventional manner.

What we claim is:

l. A device for winding photographic ilrn strips to be processed comprising a spool having two flanges co axially disposed, a central pin joining said flanges, each flange having a spiral groove to engage an edge of the film strips to retain said film strips in said spiral grooves, means for rotating said spool about the axis of said central pin, a movable film guide member for introducing a lm strip between said spool fianges, a guide plate, means for rotating said guide plate with said spool, said guide plate having a spiral groove corresponding to said spiral grooves of said spool anges, said film guide member comprising a nger to follow said spiral groove in said guide plate to control the position of said film guide member during winding, said spiral groove in said guide plate being subdivided into a number of sections separated from each other by uninterrupted circumferentially closed outlet grooves, and means to urge said finger when in said outlet grooves against the groove wall nearest to the axis of said guide plate. whereby said outlet grooves may be repetitiously traversed by said finger. t

f 2. A device for winding photographic film strips to be processed comprising a spool having two flanges c0- axially disposed, a central pin joining said `flanges, each flange having a spiral groove to engage an edge of the r'ilm strips to retain said film strips in said spiral grooves, means for rotating said spool about the axis of said central pin, said spiral grooves of said flanges being each subdivided into a number of sections, adjacent sections being separated from each other by concentric rings attached to said franges and projecting above the plane ofthe groove bottoms a distance substantially equal to the height of the ridges between adjacent windings of the spiral groove, a movable film guide member for introducing a film strip between said spool flanges, a guide plate, means for rotating said guide plate with said spool, said guide plate having a spiral groove corresponding to said spiral grooves of said spool flanges, said film guide member comprising a finger to follow said spiral groove in said guide plate to control the position of said film guide member during winding, said spiral groove in said guide plate being subdivided into a .number of sections separated from each other by uninterrupted circumferentially closed outlet grooves, and means to urge said linger when in said outlet grooves against the groove wall nearest to the axis of said guide plate whereby said outlet grooves may be repetitionsiy traversed by said inger.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least the first winding of a section of said spiral groove in said guide plate is recessed into the bottom of the outlet groove preceding said section. n

4. A processingspool for use in a ilm winding device comprising two coaxially spaced flanges, a central pin connecting said anges, each of said anges having a spiral ygroove to engage an edge of a film strip to retain said film strip in said spiral groove, said spiral groovesy of said anges being each subdivided into a number of sections, adjacent sections being separated from each other by yconcentric rings attached to said ilanges and projecting above the plane of the groove bottoms a distance substantially equal to the height of the ridges between adjacent windings of the spiral groove.

5. A processing spool for use in a iilm winding device comprising a central pin, a plurality of radially extending spoke members in both ends of said pin and xedly attached thereto, each of said spoke members being provided on its inner yface with a row of teeth, corresponding teeth of adjacent spoke members being radially displaced relative to each other whereby the interspaces of said teeth on said spoke members detine interrupted spiral grooves for both edges of a film, said spiral grooves of said spoke members being each subdivided into a number of sections, adjacent sections being separated from each other by concentric rings attached to said spoke members and projecting above the plane of the groove bottoms a distance substantially equal to the height of the ridges between adjacent windings of the spiral groove.

6. A lm guiding means for photographic filmstrips to be processed comprising a movable lrn guide member, a guide plate, means for rotating said guide plate, said guide plate having a spiral groove therein, a finger upon said guide member to follow said spiral groove in said guide plate to control the position of said iilm guide member, said spiral groove in said guide plate being subdivided into a number of sections separated from each other by uninterrupted circumferential closed outlet grooves, and means to urge said finger when in said outlet grooves against the groove wall nearest to the axis of said guide plate whereby said outlet grooves may be repetitiously traversed by said nger. t

7. A film guiding means as claimed in claim 6 wherein at least the first winding of a section of said spiral groove yin said guide plate is recessed into the bottom of the outlet groove preceding said section.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,990,128 Hansen et al. June 27, 1961 

1. A DEVICE FOR WINDING PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM STRIPS TO BE PROCESSED COMPRISING A SPOOL HAVING TWO FLANGES COAXIALLY DISPOSED, A CENTRAL PIN JOINING SAID FLANGES, EACH FLANGE HAVING A SPIRAL GROOVE TO ENGAGE AN EDGE OF THE FILM STRIPS TO RETAIN SAID FILM STRIPS IN SAID SPIRAL GROOVES, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID SPOOL ABOUT THE AXIS OF SAID CENTRAL PIN, A MOVABLE FILM GUIDE MEMBER FOR INTRODUCING A FILM STRIP BETWEEN SAID SPOOL FLANGES, A GUIDE PLATE, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID GUIDE PLATE WITH SAID SPOOL, SAID GUIDE PLATE HAVING A SPIRAL GROOVE CORRESPONDING TO SAID SPIRAL GROOVES OF SAID SPOOL FLANGES, SAID FILM GUIDE MEMBER COMPRISING A FINGER TO FOLLOW SAID SPIRAL GROOVE IN SAID GUIDE PLATE TO CONTROL THE POSITION OF SAID FILM GUIDE MEMBER DURING WINDING, SAID SPIRAL GROOVE IN SAID GUIDE PLATE BEING SUBDIVIDED INTO A NUMBER OF SECTIONS SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER BY UNINTERRUPTED CIRCUMFERENTIALLY CLOSED OUTLET GROOVES, AND MEANS TO URGE SAID FINGER WHEN IN SAID OUTLET GROOVES AGAINST THE GROOVE WALL NEAREST TO THE AXIS OF SAID GUIDE PLATE WHEREBY SAID OUTLET GROOVES MAY BE REPETITIOUSLY TRAVERSED BY SAID FINGER. 